AMR Chief Racing Against the Clock

By

Susan Carey And

Jack Nicas

Updated March 16, 2012 10:02 a.m. ET

CHICAGO—American Airlines parent AMR Corp. fears that an extended stay in bankruptcy-court protection heightens the risk of being taken over or broken up, Chief Executive Tom Horton said in an interview.

"Any of those things could happen," said Mr. Horton, a longtime AMR executive who took the top job the day the company filed for bankruptcy nearly four months ago. "Break up the company, sell off the parts, a...